Today's episode begins with Gohan, Kibito and Videl following
Goku, Shin, Vegeta, Piccolo and Krillin after the two warriors
who stole Gohan's energy.

Meanwhile, back at the World Martial Arts tournament, the
crowd is a little less than happy with the prospect of so
many fighters leaving the tournament. Who could blame them?

While on route following the thieves, Shin explains to the
group exactly why he and Kibito are here on Earth:

Long ago, they sealed an evil entity, Majin Buu (pronounced
"Mah-gin Boo" ) within an orb deep within the Earth
after defeating a powerful wizard, Bibidi. Now his son, Babidi,
has returned and is gathering the pure energy needed to resurrect
Majin Buu from his slumber. If he succeeds, then the Earth
will experience a darkness the likes of which no human has
witnessed.

However, all of the sudden the two land, revealing only the
top part of a hidden ship. Could this be Babidi's hideout?
Before the guys can dwell on it for two long, two figures
emerge

It's Babidi. (FINALLY!!)

but there's someone with him. It's Devorah, king of
the Demon World. This is unexpected, and catches even The
Supreme Kai off guard.

Getting back to Babidi, after accepting the energy basket
from our two Tournament thieves, he kills them. (A rather
gruesome scene, I recommend you check it out). So how will
our hero's fight an enemy that is truly this vicious? "Stay
tuned for the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!"

The Review

Animation

Every time I watch the Buu Saga I cannot help but marvel
at the animation enhancements made over previous sagas. Today
was the BEST animation yet in terms of form and detail. Once
again, since this was a key episode the "A Team"
was brought out for this one, and I must say it looks marvelous.

Facial detail was abundant today, in fact, other then the
Audience shots, I don't think I saw a real "Low Quality"
moment in the episode, even Gohan's friends were animated
in the same style and detail. Coloration was excellent, with
appropriate shadowing that was neither too light or overdone,
but most importantly:

The animation itself was fluid.

Motions were smooth, crisp and well drawn. Facial detail
was at an all time high, even in the over-dramatized "Ah
moments," where not only their mouths twitched, but their
eyes, eyebrows and even minute muscular details were animated
to convey the "No, it can't be" emotion.

Choreography

Because of the animated nature of DBZ, good animation generally
means good choreography. There were some good sequences in
today's episode, which was very good to keep the presence
of the characters in mind.

example:

When the group converged on Babidi's ship after Sappopovich
and his companion landed, every one took an immediate hiding
position by crouching behind the rocks quickly

Everyone that is, except Vegeta. Who slowly descended in
his "I am the Prince of all Saiyans," manner. Combine
this attention to detail with an excellent perspective choice
by the story boarders and we have a shot that while wasn't
key to any action or plot, but was an excellent sequence that
showed just how well the directing can be in this saga.

and that was just a transitory scene.

Another memorable scene sequence occurs when Babidi decides
he no longer needs the two energy thieves from the tournament.
So we get to see Sappopovich's body puff up like a balloon
before exploding.

What makes this so interesting was the fact that the directors
could have had it so that Babidi merely destroyed them both
with a simple glance, which could convey Babidi's awesome
magical prowess. However, the director opts for a more drawn
out, and arguably more dramatic sequence of the his death,
and subsequently, the death of his partner at that hands of
Babidi's assistant.

(If you have seen today's episode, I invite you to ponder
why Babidi had his partner kill Sappopovich's companion rather
than doing it himself on our Forum)

Music

Music? There was music on today's episode? I didn't even
notice, or care for that matter.

I feel rather skimpy in this section all the time but the
fact of the matter is this:

There's really not much to talk about.

FUNi could have (and should have) kept all the original music
intact after receive what I know to be at least HUNDREDS of
requests to do so. Yet they didn't.

(Yawn)

Dialogue

Well, I knew this would happen.

Once the action starts, the good dialogue goes by the wayside.
Though the dialogue has been well suited for the situations.
I generally have an aversion to Monologues in animated features
unless specifically designed to create a specific atmosphere.

Shin's monologue about Majin Buu did not do that for me.

Also, the humor has also taken a back seat with the suspense
and gearing up for some action.

However,

When I fist watched FUNi's DBZ, I really despised the fact
that the characters talked at all. The dialogue was horrible,
and some of the acting atrocious. The only thing DBZ was good
for in my eyes for a while was the fighting. I could remember
myself yelling at the TV during the early parts of the Saiyan
and Frieza Saga:

Shut up and fight already!!!

Thankfully, that has changed so much for the better as FUNi's
experience progressed. Today's episode was no exception. While
it lacked some of the sharp humor of previous episodes, leave
it to Krillin to at least bring a little spice in the Dialogue
with his comment of Piccolo not always being one of the Good
Guys...

Well see how the dialogue keeps up as we progress into some
more action intensive episodes.

Plot

We met Babidi today. We're you surprised at how he looked?
Did you notice the "M" both on his ship and on his
belt?

HUGE day in terms of plot, as we have now in my opinion made
the subtle transition from Heaven's Tournament / World Martial
Arts Tournament "Saga" to "Buu Saga" (Note
the there never really was a "Heaven's tournament/World
Martial Arts Tournament" Saga, it was all still part
of the Buu Saga).

Today was really our introduction to the MAIN conflict of
the series: Stop Babidi from bring the most evil of evil on
the Earth.

I think that's all the conflict you need.

Overall

To be honest, when it comes to the overall presentation
of an episode, I'm not that hard to please. If you can keep
me in my seat for 25 minutes without me going, "Blegh,"
then I'm generally good to go.

Even without laughing as much as I have in previous episodes,
I really enjoyed this episode for one key reason: The Animation.
Just about every sequence I kept saying to myself, "Look
at how well they drew that," or, "That's some detail
they put into that." I really was pleasantly surprised
all in all.